Sri Lanka's Kamindu Mendis celebrates his century on the first day of the first cricket test match between New Zealand and Sri Lanka in Galle, Sri Lanka. (AP )

GALLE, Sri Lanka, Sept 18, (AP): Raised the order to score even more runs, prolific middle-order batter Kamindu Mendis struck a fine hundred on Wednesday to rescue Sri Lanka from a precarious position as the hosts reached 302-7 at stumps on Day 1 of the first test against New Zealand. Kiwi quick William O’Rourke claimed three wickets in Galle but Mendis (114) was untroubled, posting his fourth century in test match cricket in only his seventh test.

The left-handed batsman has scored more than 800 runs in just 11 innings and he is on course to become the fastest Sri Lankan to 1,000 test runs, with Roy Dias (23 innings) currently holding that record. Apart from four hundreds, Mendis also has scored four half-centuries. Mendis had been batting at No. 7 until this test match when he was promoted to No. 5.

Often he had batted with the tail while occupying the lower position and had run out of partners. New Zealand had the advantage after reducing Sri Lanka to 178-5 and with the last recognized pair out in the middle. Mendis, with Kusal Mendis (50), was involved in a 103-run partnership for the sixth wicket to help Sri Lanka fight back. Kamindu Mendis reached his century by putting away a full toss from part-time spinner Rachin Ravindra to the boundary. Kusal Mendis, made to keep wicket and pushed to No. 7 in this game, was fighting for his place but should be fine for the rest of the series.

The partnership was broken when Kusal Mendis was dismissed unusually. The batter pulled Glenn Phillips' delivery and the ball stuck short leg fielder Tom Latham and popped up to Tim Southee at short mid-wicket for an easy catch. New Zealand took the second new ball soon after it was available and it was spinner Ajaz Patel who made the breakthrough by dismissing Kamindu Mendis with just five minutes to go for stumps. Sri Lanka lost both its openers Pathum Nissanka (27) and Dimuth Karunaratne (2) early in the day after electing to bat first as O’Rourke removed both batters.

O’Rourke also struck Angelo Mathews on his right index finger forcing the batter to retire. He did come out to bat after lunch and made 36. Phillips was the pick of the spinners, bowling captain Dhananjaya de Silva through the gate. New Zealand had a warm-up test match last week against Afghanistan in India washed out after five days without a ball being bowled. Sri Lanka is coming off a three-match test series in England which the hosts won 2-1. The teams will play a second test beginning Sept. 26, also at Galle.